The changes recently agreed by the European Parliament’s business managers are aimed at ensuring the 8,937 ecu per month each MEP receives to pay personal staff is not siphoned off for other purposes. From the end of May, the allowance will no longer be paid into the member’s own account, but either directly to the assistants themselves or to an intermediary paying agent.

The growing army of assistants – who are employed by MEPs and not the Parliament – has been campaigning since the early 1980s for some form of recognised status. But many believe their limbo-like existence will change little despite the planned reforms, because of the continued failure of the Parliament to insist that MEPs demonstrate they have paid employer tax and social security contributions for their staff.

“The introduction of a paying agent does not really change anything. It could be a foundation created by an MEP and his wife, and it still does not have to justify how the allowances are used. As far as transparency goes, this has not really changed anything at all,” complained one long-serving assistant.

An anonymous letter from “a large group of assistants who cannot sign for fear of dismissal” has been sent to Diemut Theato, chairwoman of the Parliament’s budgetary control committee, containing allegations of “MEPs’ fraudulent use of the assistance allowance”.

MEPs retort that to insist on proof that tax and social security payments had been made would require a large number of officials to police the system and would take time.

The problem is particularly acute for the 300 or so assistants, out of a total of just over 1,000, who are based in Brussels. Many do not pay tax and are not covered by social security or insurance against illness or accident, despite an annual letter from Parliament President Klaus Hänsch reminding MEPs of their obligations under Belgian law. “I know of at least one MEP who gives money in an envelope and says to the assistant ‘It’s pay day’,” said a parliamentary source.

It is up to the MEPs themselves to decide how many assistants to employ and how much to pay them. Spanish staff are considered to be among the best paid and British and Italians among the worst.

Mieke Schuurman, an assistant for the past two years and president of the Association of European Parliamentary Assistants, explains: “The association has been working on this case for the past 15 years. We see the latest rule change as a small step forward. But it does not meet our final aim of having a proper status where social security and tax are paid and where things are clear.”That target has already been reached by one small group of assistants – those working for Dutch Socialist MEPs. These parliamentarians have created a legally-registered foundation, with its own board, into which the Parliament pays the MEPs’ allowances directly. Brussels-based assistants receive their monthly salaries from the foundation and pay tax and social security in Belgium.

Hänsch has asked the Personnel Commissioner Erkki Liikanen to consider tabling a proposal to establish a long-term solution to the problem by giving the assistants an official status.

One idea being examined is to extend to assistants the temporary agent status enjoyed by most political group staff, under which tax and social security payments are paid to the EU budget. Another is to grant them the same terms and conditions as those applied to free-lance interpreters.

Next month’s changes will mean an increase in the cost of staff allowances to the Parliament’s budget, with a combination of the extra administrative burden and the annual review raising the monthly amount from 8,000 ecu to 8,937 ecu.

But this would be eclipsed by a more radical overhaul of the system. “The costs would be three times the present rate if we worked on the premise that each member could have one administrative member of staff and two secretaries on a temporary agent basis. The budget could not handle that now,” said one senior MEP.